Covid-19 the Weller Way

We've made up boxes of food for families to last them a week. These were tailored, within our capabilities, to individual household needs.  They were a mix of fresh and long life items.  We delivered them to homes across Caversham. 

Monday - Friday we prepped, cooked and delivered lunches to those who needed them. We helped families who were in need financially, those shielding or self isolating and even those trying to home school, work from home and run a house all at once. Meals were a range of things from cream teas, to cottage pie to sandwiches.  Most days included a pudding as well. We are grateful to local residents and businesses who helped out with these.

We printed pages and pages of homework for young people learning at home. We then scanned some of this work to send to school. We printed out invoices, quotes, postage labels and all sorts of other things for people and even scanned documents for people who needed to send these off. 

We collect many items from people including books, DVDs, food, clothes and toys which were then 'made safe' and lent out again. People also dropped donations in. Many of the items were showcased on our Facebook page making it easier for those who couldn't attend to request specific items. 

We worked closely with Tesco, Waitrose and Co-op to reduce food waste and collected food from them on a rota basis 7 days a week to redistribute to those in need.

Our team of volunteers grew dramatically during lockdown and we have been very lucky to have so many people willing and able to help us out. 

Every item donated to us went through our quarantine and cleaning process before it was sorted and rehomed. We saw hundreds of books and DVDs through this process and hope they are all enjoying their new homes. 

We listened to many people who were isolated. We picked up the phone to them, we messaged them, we dropped by to see them and some we just waved to in passing. Many people used our social media channels to keep in touch as well. 

We gave advice on all sorts of issues during lock down, from budgeting to housing rights to finances. 

We are grateful to the following companies who donated/provided meals for us during lockdown:

3 Love Food, Nando's, Pielicious, Jennings, Nvidia and Thirsty Bear. We also received generous donations from a local school PTA, Residents and McDonalds.